The Spotnicks are an instrumental rock group from Sweden, who were formed in 1961. They were famous for wearing "space suit" costumes on stage, and for their innovative electronic guitar sound. They have since released 42 albums, selling more than 18 million records, and still tour.

Scriball is a simple game that will suck up your day. Guide one ball to the other ball with a line you draw. Easy to understand once you get started, but you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what strategy to use. (via Metafilter)

This machine fells, strips, and chops trees in to logs in mere seconds. Now I know what "deforestation" means.

Sexy Panda. An interesting look into how people manage to entice pandas to mate.

Monday, January 26, 2009

This handy list of Oscar nominees will prepare you for the awards on February 22nd. This list of Razzie nominees will tell you which movies to avoid.

The rise and fall of a video game champion. Playing video games professionally wasn't as easy as it looked in 1982.

How to Lose $20 Billion of Value in 2 Trading Days. The story of Bank of America and its disastrous deal with Merrill Lynch.

Keeping your used car can save you big bucks in the long run. The author of this post figures he saved $25,000 by driving his '95 Prism instead of trading it for a new car.

She isn't as well-known as Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey, but Birute Mary Galdikas has devoted her life to the orangutans of Indonesia. She's worried about how palm oil plantations are dstroying their territory.

"If you started enforcing all the rules in Room 315 there would be no students — everyone would always be suspended." School of Hard Knocks is a heartbreaking 7-part series of articles about kids with behavioral problems in a Philadelpha high school. Links to each chapter are here.

The 20 Worst Foods in America 2009. Before you get sick thinking about it, know that they offer an alternative for each. (via Geek Like Me)

6 Words That Make Your Resume Suck. They appear on everyone's resume, but they don't mean anything. (via Lifehacker)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

The bark of a male cheetah will cause a female to begin ovulating. This discovery will help conservation breeding programs for the endangered species, if those in charge can figure how to make a cat bark.

January is the perfect time to dream about summer and plan your garden. If you’ve never had one before, read 7 Tips for Starting Your Own Vegetable Garden. (via Lifehacker)

Dangerous Psychology Experiments from the Past. Stage a rape to see what bystanders will do -what could possibly go wrong?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Trying to find the answer to his mystery-shrouded past, Ken Mason narrowly escapes an ambush at Tombstone Canyon... which is haunted by the mysterious and disfigured Phantom, whose strange cry is a warning of death!

Mongo the Trebuchet. Mark Winkler spent six months building a machine to fling watermelons and fireballs, just for kicks.Marry Me, a cute short film about a girl who likes a little boy and a boy who likes his BMX bike. Inspired by a true story.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A combination of extreme cold and high fuel prices has created a humanitarian crisis for the village of Emmonak, Alaska. Since when do we let things like this happen in the United States? And what is governor Palin doing?

You’ve seen unfortunate ad placements before, but you’ve never seen anything as unfortunate as this commercial break during Friday’s Battlestar Galactica. There are other words I could use besides “unfortunate”, such as shocking, disgusting, or hilarious, but I couldn’t decide between them.

Taking a walk in the country can do wonders for your short term memory. But only if you remember to do it.

The Mystery of Borderline Personality Disorder. An inability to calibrate one's feelings and behavior baffles psychologists and leads to a 10% suicide rate among sufferers.

1300 girls defy the Taliban to attend school in Kandahar, despite an attack on 11 students and four teachers that left some scarred for life. There's nothing in the world more threatening than a woman who can take care of herself.

The lowest blood oxygen levels ever recorded were taken by, and from, healthy doctors near the peak of Mt. Everest. Their findings could lead to savings patients who are at risk of sudden blood oxygen deprivation.

Six Kids Who Made the World a Better Place. Not just for their friends and family, but for everyone.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Champion Ice Skater Dies; Gives Birth Day Days Later. A really bittersweet story of the miracle of medical technology.

The lowest blood oxygen levels ever recorded were taken by, and from, healthy doctors near the peak of Mt. Everest. Their findings could lead to savings patients who are at risk of sudden blood oxygen deprivation.

Six Kids Who Made the World a Better Place. Not just for their friends and family, but for everyone.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The biggest full moon of 2009 will be visible this weekend. When the perigee Moon is near the horizon, an illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view.

Some Protect the Ego by Working on Their Excuses Early. When you have a built-in reason for failure, the rare victory is even sweeter. (via Lifehacker)

A class action lawsuit by residents of the Amazon may cost Chevron up to 23 billion dollars! No one disputes that Texaco (which was later acquired by Chevron) left an environmental mess in Ecuador; the question is who is legally responsible for rectifying it.

The hacker who infiltrated Twitter a few days ago explains the very simple way he did it. The lesson learned: don't make your passwords so easy to guess, especially if you administer a social network site.

Friday, January 09, 2009

1971 thriller starring Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson. From IMDb: A neurosurgeon with a cheating wife takes an amnesiac into his home and conditions him to believe that the cheating wife is his own and to take the "appropriate" action.

The 1984 documentary about Harvey Milk the San Francisco openly gay member of the Board of Supervisors. Milk and mayor George Moscone were assassinated in 1978. The new movie Milk starring Sean Penn is now in theaters.

The End of the Financial World as We Know It. The mess we're in now required all sorts of important, plugged-in people to sacrifice our collective long-term interests for short-term gain.

5 Homeless Guys Who Accomplished Amazing Things. Any accomplishments are much more difficult without an address, bathroom, or place to keep your stuff.

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, who invented the reading system for the blind. The instrument that caused his blindness became the tool used for his invention. (via Fark)

25 of the Greatest Self-Made Men in American History. Finding a man like this is a lifetime project -I know!

Numbers are Innate. I'm surprised; I thought the process of learning math is why we have all these fingers and toes.

The Natural Basis for Gender Inequality. The sexes are so different, why should we work for equal rights?

Cities needlessly shine billions of dollars worth of light directly into the sky each year. Turn down the light pollution, and we'll be able to see the Milky Way. (via Metafilter)

The Legacy of Sadako. A 12-year-old girl who did fifty years ago is still inspiring people around the world.

Some things about traffic that may surprise you. Excerpted from the book Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do by Tom Vanderbilt. (via Look at This)

The White House is still working to gut environmental legislation with a policy that prohibits controls on greenhouses gases for coal-fired power plants. The incoming administration can change that, but it will take time.

Men may flirt with risk because they think it will help them score women. That'll only work if they don't get killed first.